


Cupcakes Make Everything Better

by ladyoneill



Category: The Gifted (TV 2017)
Genre: Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 17:18:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17047328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyoneill/pseuds/ladyoneill
Summary: Set between season one and two, a late night chat between two new friends who have discovered a lot in common...including a love of fudge cupcakes.





	Cupcakes Make Everything Better

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DestielsDestiny](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DestielsDestiny/gifts).



> I hope you like this! It's from Caitlin's perspective but there's a lot of Marcos. I had fun writing this slice of life.

Entering the darkened apartment, Caitlin pulled the band from her hair with a sigh, then dropped it on the table in the entry and reached for the light switch. Tired, she fumbled with it for a moment, then a warm glow filled the main room, illuminating Reed asleep on the couch.

Waiting up for her as always.

A sad smile crossed her face, and she ran her fingers through her hair, pulling out the braid, and wincing at the lankness of the strands.

Tired, sweaty, and sore from assisting in three emergency surgeries, including a burst appendix, all she wanted was a shower and her bed, but she also hadn't eaten for nearly twelve hours, so food was a priority.

As she turned towards the kitchen, she noticed a light coming from beneath the swinging door and the aroma of beef cooking. She must really be exhausted not to realize someone else was in the apartment. (It wasn't Lauren--she was spending the night at John and Clarice's working on how her powers could function with Blink's.)

Pushing open the door, Caitlyn wasn't surprised to find Marcos plating a hamburger. Someone must have called to let him know she was on her way home from the clinic.

Since Lorna's abdication to the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club while carrying their child, Marcos had been a bit lost, choosing to spend time with the Strucker family in commiseration of their missing loved ones, taking care of them along the way. Caitlin and Reed being human and thrust into the world Marcos had known for years, they relied on him and the others to help, as much as providing their own assistance to the Underground.

Along the way and over the last couple of months, a friendship had developed.

Giving Caitlin a tight smile, Marcos set the plate with the burger and some chips down on the table along with a glass of water.

"Thanks. You didn't have..."

"It's no problem, Caitlin," Marcos interrupted. "You know you would have just eaten the chips straight from the bag before crashing and missed out on necessary protein."

As she sat, she chuckled in acknowledgement. "Way too tired to cook," she agreed, then moaned at the first bite of the burger. "Some day you're going to tell me what you mix in the meat to make it so good."

"It's love," he replied completely ironically, making her laugh again. The humor didn't last long--it never did anymore. "The nurse who called said you had a long, quiet day, and a very busy, chaotic night."

"Yeah, routine surgeries that are never routine with the limited personnel and supplies."

"Reed told me he found a new supplier for drugs, but it's going to be risky to get them. We're heading out tomorrow, first thing."

"Then you need to sleep, too."

Marcos shrugged. "Don't really sleep well alone." He got up from the table where he'd sat briefly to wash the pan and utensils. "Adrenaline keeps me going."

"Until you crash." She gave his back a pointed look, frowning when he shrugged again.

"It is what it is, Caitlin."

Not knowing how to respond, she took another bite of her sandwich, then a sip of her drink. As the sound of running water and small splashes joined the crunch of chips between her teeth, her thoughts drifted to a year ago, a table full of laughing people, chattering voices, a house on in a upper middle-class neighborhood, a meal of more than hamburger and budget brand chips.

All lost in a moment.

But, what could she and Reed have done? Let Sentinel Services take their children?

Over the past year she'd come to realize that she and her husband were the anomalies. Too many human parents of mutant children did turn on their kids, did turn them over, did write them off.

Looking at the back of a man whose father had done similar, she understood, but could only condemn.

No parent should do that.

Which is why she knew, eventually, Marcos would leave them and find his child.

"Come, sit," she beckoned softly.

Caitlin could almost see the tension leave her friend as he turned off the water and joined her again at the table. The hand not holding the burger lightly found his wrist, turning it so their fingers could entwine. "You know, this may be the exhaustion talking, but I believe we'll find Lorna, find Andy, turn the tide and save everyone we can."

"Give it a few more years with the Underground. That optimism will shift."

She rolled her eyes so dramatically, he barked out a startled laugh. "And maybe your pessimism will shift. No one stays the same, Marcos."

"Be nice if we could," he replied a bit wistfully.

"Unless that's a mutant power I've never heard of, not possible."

"Might be." Flashing her a grin, he squeezed her hand then rose to his feet again. "You too exhausted for chocolate fudge cupcakes?"

Eyes widening, Caitlin grinned back. "Where on Earth did you find chocolate fudge cupcakes?"

"Would you believe I made them?"

Snorting, she shook her head.

"Yeah, no one would believe that." As he opened the refrigerator, he continued, "New bakery two blocks East." 

Which would put it just on the edge of this run-down industrial area in which they were squatting where there was a gas station, a couple thrift stores, and a tiny grocery that barely had the basics.

"That makes no sense." How could they stay in business where everyone was poor and down-on-their-luck and there were only a couple tenements? Homeless, hidden mutants, people subsisting on food stamps and charity kitchens were the only ones living here. 

"Does when you know the owner is a mutant." Marcos took out a white box and put it on the table with a couple of paper towels.

"Well, we'll need to keep it in business, then, because God knows we can use more cupcakes." Opening the box, she took out a pink wrapped cupcake with a sugar rose on top and moaned in delight. It had been too long since she'd had chocolate. Marcos took one as well before closing the box on the last two delights.

Peeling away one side of the wrapper, Caitlin took a bite and closed her eyes in bliss as sugar and fudge burst on her tongue. It was the best thing she'd tasted in months and it was gone too soon.

The bliss turned into mourning and she gave Marcos a pout. He clutched the remains of his cupcake to his mouth.

"Mine," he growled.

Caitlin laughed.

Maybe the world wasn't as horrible a place as she sometimes thought if treats like this remained to brighten it.

"Do we really need to save the other two for Reed and Lauren?"

Marcos chuckled as well and opened the box again. "As you said, we've got to keep the bakery in business, right? Pick up another box after work tomorrow. We'll share those."

"Maybe," he added, grabbing a second fudgey confection.

Caitlin took the last and saluted him with it before licking away the flower top.

The rest of the world and all its problems, thoughts of her son and Lorna and the rest of the missing and lost, could wait until tomorrow. Tonight there was the warmth of cupcakes and friendship. 

End


End file.
